After having a baby, a mother oftentimes breast feeds the newborn baby. Therefore, several brassieres have been designed to provide access to the breast without the need to take off the brassiere. As is known, the mother's breast size after the baby is born is significantly larger than her normal breast size. Therefore, while sleeping, some mothers wear brassieres to sleep to support the weight of their breasts. Additionally, at night since the breast are filled with the mother's milk, the breasts leak with the mother's milk which soils the bed linens.
The existing nursing bras have straps which support the bra around the shoulders of the mother which is uncomfortable while sleeping. Moreover, if the mother needs to breast feed the baby in the middle of the night, some of the nursing bras utilize snaps and hooks which are cumbersome to operate when the mother is, if you will, half asleep.
Several examples of patented nursing bras or garments are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,813, to Booze, entitled "NURSING GARMENT" discloses a garment in the form of a hospital gown for mothers who may need to nurse their baby. The garment is made of flexible material, has a vertical inwardly facing pleat centered on and along the upper front in the vicinity of the breasts of the wearer. The pleat includes an interior fold line which incorporates an opening therealong to provide access to the breasts of the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,647, to Courtney, entitled "NURSING GARMENT" discloses a nursing bra which includes at least one cup which fits over a breast of the user. The cup includes a flap for selectively concealing or exposing the breast. A focus pattern is provided on the cup located so that it can be viewed by the infant during nursing. The bra shown has straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,677, to White, entitled "NURSING BRA" discloses a nursing brassiere having a frontal section comprised of partially overlapping frontal portions each adapted to cover one side of a wearer's chest area. The frontal portions are connected to a lower band that fits around the wearer and has inner and outer overlapping members. The bra shown has straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,287, to Anderson et al., entitled "RELEASABLE FASTENING MEANS AND METHOD FOR CLOTHING ITEMS, PARTICULARLY CAPS, BRASSIERES, AND NURSING BRASSIERES" discloses the use of VELCRO.RTM. can be used as a fastening means for various clothing items. The bra shown has straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,024, to Williams, entitled "MATERNITY BRASSIERE" discloses a bra with straps and includes detachable inner cup sections which overlay the inner portions of wide stretchable bands.
While each of the above brassieres function as desired, none of them disclose a nighttime nursing tube bra that can be easily pulled down to expose one or more breasts and that includes a detachable, launderable liner member.
As will be seen more fully below, the present invention is substantially different in structure, methodology and approach from that of the prior nursing brassieres or garments.